Brown Sugar Plum Latte by Luckin Coffee

After the interesting experience with the Pear Latte by Luckin Coffee, I tried another of their eyebrow-raising latte flavours combining fruit, milk and coffee - Brown Sugar Plum Latte. The brown sugar plum combination is apparently a classic flavour, often found in candies, but I've not tried that either. The iced latte version by Luckin turned out to be a rather interesting one with a flavour profile that evolved as the iced melted.

Visually, it looked like an ordinary latte, so I took a photo of the marketing poster below as well.

On first sip, it tasted like a brown sugar coffee latte, with an interesting hint of salted plum. For some reason, it came across more as slightly savoury, rather than sour. Because the coffee and sourness were so mild, there were two emergent tastes.

The plum and coffee parts combined to come across as a very fruity coffee, like Gesha (or Geisha) bean coffee.

Whereas the honey-like and fragrant part of the plum flavour combined with the brown sugar taste to form an enhanced caramel taste with a pop of sweet toffee fragrance, rather than just plain brown sugar.

Brown Sugar Plum Latte by Luckin Coffee - promotional poster

It was a very interesting combination indeed that blended well, but which I couldn't put my finger on.

Then, in the after taste, and also when the ice melted more, the taste evolved. The coffee taste thinned out further, and the plum taste began to separate as a distinct flavour. At this stage, it tasted more like a candied plum taste with some toffee (from the diluted coffee part) underneath. This part probably tastes more like what I imagine the brown sugar plum candies would.

Because of this, if you wait for the ice to melt a bit, it becomes quite a refreshing and light drink with some complexity, like an enhanced iced plum drink.

I would recommend just trying it to see for yourself - both immediately and after the ice has melted.

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